So we CAN agree, then!

I was already having a bad day. Our grass is too tall. Our lawnmower isn't working right. Our finances are in a shambles. Our nation is in a mess with both sides worrying more about being reelected than fixing what's wrong. I already had a disagreement with a family member; and I had spent time in a meeting where I left not feeling as comfortable as I wanted about how our preparation for an upcoming event was going to come together later on.

After the meeting I went outside our meeting venue at the Kentucky Coffeetree Café in Frankfort, Kentucky, the capital city of the state. I spoke with some folk who were at the meeting and were continuing discussions about politics, life, whatever. As we/they were discussing the needs of the USA, a nearby person said loudly something like, “Well we need to get rid of all this liberal control and go back to what the constitution says.”

One of my friends prodded him about what part of the constitution; and they ended up in a short but interesting and significant manhood competition about whether the more liberal one had really served in the military. They discussed the size of a particular tank and how much it weighed, etc., for my friend to prove he had really served. I actually thought afterward it was kind of funny that it was so important to the guy who didn't like liberal politics.

Somewhere during the talking, in my already aggravated state, I started challenging some of what he was saying; and we ended up yelling at one another loud enough to draw the attention of a lot of people on the block who were sitting talking, eating, drinking coffee, walking their dogs, etc. Two of my friends tried to calm me down; and, before things really calmed down, at least one of them left to go home. One had left earlier; and one more went to another table to sit, probably to avoid the inevitable blood shed that might come my/our way.

There was a discussion of American history with very different ideas about what that history entailed. (For example, Clinton didn't balance the budget. George H. W. Bush's policies actually did the balancing.)

He was applauding the Tea Party! I consider the Tea Party to be a manufactured group by the very rich who convince them to vote against their own self interests without realizing that is what they are doing.

I kept prodding the guy who didn't like liberals whose name was Jim, about what he saw being needed in the USA; and it was immediately obvious that even though we might not agree on HOW to fix our problems, we certainly agreed on what those problems were. The loudness of our respective voices reduced; and the discussion became both better in nature and more productive. It seemed we agreed on a fair amount of things:

1. We both believed that the Supreme Court “Citizens United” decision was an affront to the intentions of the framers of the Constitution.
2. We both believed that we needed some form of social protection net. He especially seemed to understand the need for the Food Stamps program.
3. We both believe that our current two-party system is failing the country. He thinks the Republicans are more likely to have a solution. I believe the Democrats are trying the right approach.
4. We both believe congress is taking too much time on things that really don't matter that much to the American people. One example of that was the time taken to vote on returning incandescent bulbs to our store shelves, led by the party that first sought to eliminate them just a few years ago.
5. We both believe our governmental systems themselves need to be improved. He says that government needs to be reduced. I argued that the size isn't the problem but that what we needed was effective government of the size necessary to make it effective.
6. We both agreed that taxes were too low on the very wealthy and too high on some lower paid folk.
7. We both agreed that the invasion of Iraq had disrupted the mission in Afghanistan and causing more problems for the USA.
8. We agreed that too many people don't have a concern for the USA and want it to be successful, though we might not have agreed how that would be seen. We never discussed that question of how, though.
9. He believes the Healthcare Improvement Act (what negative folk call Obamacare) is bad for America; but we both believe our health care system needs to be improved. He believes the health care mandate is unconstitutional. I believe we need at least needed a “public option,” which to my surprise he didn't reject.
10. We shared our own European ancestry and how our families had arrived in the USA, though we never discussed immigration itself.

We shook hands, said we'd likely bump into one another downtown again some day, and headed our respective ways without any apparent resentment from either of us for our earlier disagreement.

We discussed the changes in the American neighborhood and agreed we could both place part of the division of the USA today on the lack of the neighborhood structure and a place (restaurant, library, bar,, post office or other) that was a center where folk could share news or gossip or concerns. We see a need for a return to locally-owned and run businesses. It was obvious he was already helping to support that kind of business in our small city at the heart of the Kentucky Bluegrass area.

There are still plenty of differences between the two of us. Even though I was fairly active in “school yard” athletics in elementary and high school, I was always more of a “bookworm” and geek. His most significant experiences, instead of in a classroom, seemed to be in the military.

And yet, as far apart as we likely were in many subjects, when we actually sat down to talk about that on which we agreed (and which I admit to having deliberately done), it seemed we two middle/lower class/poor, I'm not sure which, folk had much more in common than differences.

It's a shame we can't take the time as a nation to sit down like that. My new friend Jim thinks President Obama needs to have a kitchen table with a pot of coffee available on the side to invite national and even international leaders to come sit together and talk out problems. There are ways I saw that as a little too simplistic (that a lot of world leaders would never drink coffee is one of them); but, as a symbol, it seemed very right.

Now for our national and international leaders to get their shouting out of the way and start talking about that on which they do agree and start working on how to make it better for the people who are most in need without taking anyone's actual rights away.

Unity and Values

The family I grew up in, with a Republican mother and a Democrat for a father was interesting. They never argued politics, at least not in front of us; but they always joked about canceling out one another's vote. There was also a notable love for one another, not in the mushy way, but in something that nothing could crush.

Now, of me and my four siblings, I am likely the only Democrat, though I have one sister who doesn't really say one way or the other. My favorite brother-in-law regularly sends me anti-Democrat and ant-Obama email; but I always send him a response from http://www.snopes.com (The Urban Legends Page) or elsewhere about the truth behind them. He may not be learning anything from my responses; but, at least, he gets a positive response to his negative email.

I must admit that some of the absolute trash going around about Obama may hurt him in the fall; and there is no doubt that racism will have its effect on white voters, especially white, low information, voters. I know there is plenty to say about Hillary; and a lot of it is lies as well. That is the way the political process is played out in this century so far. Anytime I get an email that is a false statement about either of our candidates I "reply all" and send them to Snopes, an article in a major newspaper, or elsewhere for information about the truth behind the lie. (Yes, Obama was wearing native attire; but so was George Bush.)

I found success in bringing family members to Obama, though, on one close relative. Our only son (who tells me not to argue politics with him or his wife) called me and wanted to talk about the election. He is registered Republican; but, after a very long conversation, he has decided to support Obama in the general election. (It isn't difficult to undermine McCain's supposed strengths, since they are so few.) He finally agreed with me that Obama is the best chance we've had in a long time (at least in my lifetime, I believe) to create major change in how politics "works" (or doesn't work) in the USA.

For most of my family voting Republican is seen as a "values" issue; but they don't really look at the actual values of the Republican or Democratic candidates themselves.

Hillary Clinton, for example, knows that her husband cheated on her; but they have remained married through a lot of crap and, I believe, still care for one another even with Bill's "problems." That, to me, shows they have some very good values when it comes to marital commitment overall. Obama is married to his first wife as well. McCain, OTOH, had an affair with Cindy before they ended up married. For the Bible bangers I would think this would be enough to discredit him; but he's a Republican and "Republicans are the party of values." I should also add that I know a lot about Hillary's Washington Church and Obama's Chicago Church; but I don't remember hearing anything about McCain's Church if he has one. If they're so interested in having "Christian" candidates, I would thiink they'd look at that as well. For me, though, their good deeds, their beliefs about the possibilities of the human race, their ability to make fair judgments, etc., are much more important than whether or not they claim to be Christians.

Yeah! Right! Values like hate, hypocrisy, homophobia, eliminating the rights of Americans to make choices related to reproduction, etc., always waving the flag as though they own it while dismantling the constitution. They have values that say it is a good thing for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. They apparently believe that God wants Republicans to kill a lot of innocent people in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. (It is more likely to occur, though, if there is oil under the land.) Values that believe virtually everything in the USA should be privatized so there is competition, which of course, is supposed to cause prices to get lower. (I guess you've noticed how well that's worked in the health care arena.)

They have values that relate anyone who doesn't agree with them as "evil," and not just wrong. (I got to admit that after the first four years, though, evil and Bush virtually became synonyms for me.)

Right after 9/11, when everyone started wearing flag pins, I copied the UN flag from the Internet site; and I managed to make it into a lapel pin. Most people (I mean almost no one) didn't know what it was; but I was making my statement about the fact that 9/11 wasn't just an American tragedy, but a world tragedy. To dismiss those from all the other countries working in the World Trade Center towers as though they didn't matter is a sign of the tendency of the USA to dismiss others from other parts of the world as unimportant. Some folk asked; and, after telling them, just looked at me like I was from outer space.

Right after 9/11 the world, virtually every country, was on our side. There were pro-USA rallies all around the world; but, after Iraq and other empty gestures on the part of the USA most of that world is angry with us instead of siding with us. Those of you without friends in England, Canada, Australia, Gambia, or Austria or other parts of the world may not hear about the anger; but I do. I live in a mini "UN" in my apartment community.

During the attempted and successful campaign of lies that would get us into the Iraq War, I regularly emailed my friends about what a mistake it would be for us to invade Iraq. I predicted everything that would happen; and I was only wrong because it was even worse than I imagined. I had studied that part of the world in seminary; and I knew the hostilities between the subgroups would be a problem for our troops and for building any new government in Iraq. Meanwhile we kept hearing that we were "winning." "Mission accomplished!" The lies kept coming; and eventually even the "less than mainstream" media weren't even giving us a good idea of what was really happening there. Many, perhaps most, of those friends became angry with me for being "unamerican," not being patriotic, etc. The whole "Freedom Fries" concept amused me and angered me at the same time. Just because they were smarter than we were about Iraq doesn't mean we should be hostile to our long term allies, does it?

Somehow, though, I don't see War as a positive value. Yes, there may be some wars that ought to be fought---like stopping Hitler, for example; but most of the wars we have fought in the last 100+ years were unnecessary. They weren't to protect us or even to protect our allies, but to prove our power or to prove we were right about our ideas and to keep the military industrial complex making lots of money.

Then there is the cost of the war and the way it is being fought with civilian contractors who make a lot more than the soldiers and live in more comfortable situations and who also SEEM to not have any rules. How did that happen? Oh, yes. We want to privatize everything: Medicare, Social Security, the army, the navy, building roads, building bridges, etc. "Let the people who use them pay for them." If the trend continues I'm afraid I'll live in a home where I cannot afford to pay the fire department for protection and lose my home; and I KNOW I'll never be able to afford my own police protection. In America right now millions of people cannot afford life saving ROUTINE health care because of our insurance system that makes the rich richer and the poor poorer.

This is what we'll get with John McCain. He may not be quite as bad as Bush; but he could also be even worse.

So I am going to the poll next week to vote for Barack Obama. In November I expect I'll be voting for Obama; but, if not, I'll be voting for Hillary Clinton because Democrats are the party of real values: equality, looking out for the little guy, support for unions, religious freedom, freedom of speech, and, best of all perhaps, FREEDOM. George and his flunkies may continue to try to take it away from us; but with a Democratic President and Democratic congress the world and America will all be singing, "Let freedom ring."

Mike

This has also been posted to uniteddems.com and bluegrassroots.org